A $4 million SIM card fraud

Editor’s Observe

Week 06, 2023
Learn time: 5 minutes

This week, we’ve received a mixture of good and dangerous information. On the brilliant aspect: Orange is lighting up Sierra Leone with a brand-new Orange Digital Heart. Nigerian fintech unicorn Flutterwave expanded into North Africa and flew out of economic crime allegations in Kenya, whereas Partech closed the most important Africa-focused fund.

Alternatively, logistics start-up Hytch has shut down, and Kenyan telco Safaricom has fallen sufferer to an enormous fraud scheme. Learn on for full particulars.

Pamela Tetteh Editor, TechCabal.

Editor’s Picks

	Safaricom loses $4 million to SIM card fraud Kenyan telco Safaricom has fallen sufferer to a fraud that investigators say is price over Ksh500 million ($4 million). It was perpetuated by scammers who had been utilizing fraudulently generated SIM card numbers to use for Safaricom’s Fuliza loans. Learn more.
	Kenya drops case in opposition to Flutterwave In a much-needed public win Kenya has dropped its expenses of economic impropriety resembling cash laundering which had been filed in opposition to Flutterwave in July 2022. Learn more.
	Kenya retains Meta in courtroom Final 12 months, Meta questioned Kenya’s judiciary proper to preside over its firm’s affair in courtroom. The legislation has responded and refused the Fb guardian firm’s request to throw a lawsuit alleging harsh working situations for its content material moderators out of the courtroom. The courtroom has dominated that the listening to will go on as scheduled. Learn more.
	Hytch hits the brakes Nigeria’s logistic market claims one other startup as Hytch shuts down. In its 9 months of doing enterprise, logistics startup Hytch has lived two lives—transporting people and shifting items. Now it has shut down proper on the heels of different logistics corporations like Oride and Gokada. Learn more.
	Flutterwave goes North Nigerian fintech unicorn, Flutterwave, has acquired its Fee Providers Supplier and Fee Facilitator licenses in Egypt The licenses will allow Flutterwave to behave as an official cost service supplier in Egypt, gather funds on behalf of its prospects and settle funds domestically and globally. Learn more.
	Partech’s Africa II fund closes at $263 million Funding agency Partech has closed its Africa II fund at €245 million (~$263 million). The Africa II fund is the most important Africa-focused fund on the planet. Partech intends to put money into over 20 African startups and likewise enhance its ticket measurement to $15 million. Learn more.

The State of Tech in Africa Report

Know-how in Africa is rising at an unprecedented price and we would like you to have a chicken’s eye view of it. The State of Tech in Africa report has launched.

You may obtain it here.

	Sierra Leone’s new digital centre Orange and the German Improvement Cooperation have introduced the opening of an Orange Digital Heart (ODC) in Sierra Leone. Orange has additionally constructed related digital centres in Tunisia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Madagascar, Morocco, Liberia, Botswana, and Guinea. Learn more.
	Bard’s $100 billion mistake Microsoft introduced that it will likely be powering its search engine Bing and its browser Edge with ChatGPT rival, Bard. Nevertheless, the AI just lately made a “mistake” which wiped over $100 billion off its market worth. Learn more.
	Extra massive tech layoffs This week, pandemic-era darling Zoom, Yahoo and Disney introduced that they are going to be axing hundreds of workers, with Zoom slicing off 1,300 and Disney 7,000 workers. Learn more.
	Netflix cracks down wider Streaming big Netflix introduced that it’s rolling out revamped person plans that’ll scale back password sharing to extra nations together with Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. With this new plan, customers in these nations will probably be requested to set a “main location” for his or her Netflix accounts Read more.

Who introduced the cash this week?

Egyptian well being tech firm Yodawy received $16 million in Sequence B funding from Supply heroes, AAIC funding, and Saudi’s Dallah Al-Baraka.

Sendmarc, a cybersecurity firm primarily based in South Africa raised $7 million in Sequence A funding. The spherical was led by Atlantica Ventures. Different collaborating traders embody Allan Grey, E-Squared Ventures, Fireball Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, 4Di Capital, Endeavor Harvest, Alpha Personal Capital, and Kalon Enterprise Companions.